I love the smell of data in the morning!
Interesting and surprising statistics about digital media and devices. Compiled & curated by Dan Calladine, Aegis Media - dan.calladine@aemedia.com -
All views expressed are my own. Please email me if you have any queries, amendments or suggestions. Follow me on twitter - I'm @dancall

"Full Year 2014 Business Highlights
Revenue for the full year 2014 was $12.47 billion, an increase of 58% year-over-year.
Income from operations for the full year 2014 was $4.99 billion.
Net income for the full year 2014 was $2.94 billion.
Free cash flow for the full year 2014 was $3.63 billion.
Daily active users (DAUs) were 890 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 18% year-over-year.
Mobile DAUs were 745 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 34% year-over-year.
Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.39 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 13% year-over-year.
Mobile MAUs were 1.19 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 26% year-over-year.Revenue - Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2014 totaled $3.85 billion, an increase of 49%, compared with $2.59 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue would have increased by 53%.
Revenue from advertising was $3.59 billion, a 53% increase from the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue from advertising would have increased by 58%.
Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 69% of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2014, up from approximately 53% of advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Payments and other fees revenue was $257 million, a 7% increase from the same quarter last year."
Source: Facebook's 4th Quarter & full year 2014 Results, 28th January 2015See charts of some of the data here

"Apple Inc. surpassed even the most bullish Wall Street expectations for its holiday quarter with an improbable trifecta: selling more iPhones at higher prices—and earning more on each sale.
The Cupertino, Calif., company said it sold 74.5 million iPhones in the quarter, 46% above a year earlier, while lifting the average selling price of the devices by $50 from the prior year. The total equates to more than 34,000 phones an hour, around the clock.
“Demand for iPhone was staggering,” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told analysts. “This volume is hard to comprehend.”
Results were remarkable, even for a company that has increased revenue more than tenfold in the past decade. They recalled the Steve Jobs heyday when iPhone demand routinely topped forecasts. In some ways, the gains are more impressive because Apple today faces many more competitors and because smartphone growth is thought to be slowing.
Consumers snapped up Apple’s two new larger-display phones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which made their debut in September, after years in which Apple ceded the large smartphone market to rivals. Apple encountered supply shortages for weeks in traditional strongholds like the U.S., as well as faster-growing markets like China."

"Mac sales were also at an all-time high at 5.52 million units, edging the company's previous-best in the preceding September quarter. The company's Mac hardware saw its numbers increase 14 percent year over year.

Record sales of both the iPhone and Mac helped push Apple to the strongest quarter in history.

iPad sales continued their decline, however, falling to 21.4 million units in the December frame. That was down 18 percent from the same period a year prior."

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

"Key data from Media Tracker revealed:
Almost eight out of ten (77%) respondents had watched catch-up TV over the past month, with 18-24 year olds leading this trend (86% for the group)
Viewing behaviour is becoming dominated by a desire to control broadcasts, with 42% claiming they watch catch-up TV compared to 24% who watch programmes as they are broadcast
Televisions are the most common device for catch-up viewing at 53%, followed by desktops/laptops (33%), tablets (22%) and smartphones (10%)
Among 18-24 year olds, more than 50% opted to stream their favourite TV shows on their personal computers rather than watching it through a television set
One in five (21%) went further, claiming they do not have access to a television set."

"Apple paid $10 billion to developers in calendar 2014. Additional statistics for the App store are:
$500 million spent on iOS apps in first week of January 2015
Billings for apps increased 50% in 2014
Cumulative developer revenues were $25 billion (making 2014 revenues 40% of all app sales since store opened in 2008)
627,000 jobs created in the US
1.4 million iOS apps catalog is sold in 155 countries"

Monday, 26 January 2015

"China's netizen population, the world's largest, reached 648 million at the end of 2014, 16 million more than in June, according to an industry expert.
Jin Jian, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), said that online economy accounts for seven percent of GDP, up from 3.3 percent the previous year.
More than 70 percent of Internet users are worried by Internet security problems, such as leaking of private information, Jin told the Beijing Daily.
Chinese consumers are eager to spend online. Internet retail sales totalled 331 billion yuan in the first ten months in 2014, up a stunning 55.6 percent over 2013."

Friday, 23 January 2015

"Did you know that 50 million people still visit MySpace each month?
Would you be surprised that MySpace users generated over 300 million video views in November, good enough for 16th place on comScore’s Video Metrix ranking?
Were you not sure that MySpace still existed?
Well, the social networking site that put the very concept of social networking on the map is alive and well. It’s been nearly a decade since News Corp acquired the company for $580 million and roughly three and a half years since the media company sold the fading property for $35 million to the Internet ad company Specific Media. (News Corp publishes The Wall Street Journal.)"
Source: WSJ, 14th January 2015

Thursday, 22 January 2015

"BBC iPlayer and BBC iPlayer Radio saw a record-breaking 3.5 billion TV and radio programme requests in 2014 – up from 3.1 billion in 2013, with over 2.6 billion TV requests and over 860 million radio requests across all devices.
The much-anticipated return of Sherlock was the most popular programme, with 4.2 million requests, followed by Top Gear (Series 21) with 3.8 million requests and BBC Three’s critically acclaimed film Murdered By My Boyfriend with 3 million requests. On radio, cricket dominated, with Test Match Special of England versus India on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra topping the table with 312,500 requests, followed by coverage of Manchester United versus Manchester City with 295,300 requests and Carl Froch take on George Groves in the ring with 219,800 requests.
Mobile and tablet continued to dominate iPlayer growth, with a 51 per cent increase in requests from tablets (801 million requests in 2014) and 32 per cent increase in requests year on year from mobiles (662 million requests in 2014). BBC iPlayer also saw increasing demand to watch iPlayer TV programmes on the biggest screen in the house, with a 13 per cent year-on-year increase in requests from Connected TVs (626 million requests in 2014)."

"It’s official: according to data just released by Edison Research, more American teenagers listen to Spotify, Pandora, and other streaming music services than traditional, FM broadcast radio. The finding comes from Edison’s ‘Share of Ear’ report, which measures all forms of music listening, including downloads, streaming services, online radio, and traditional AM/FM broadcast channels.
Most major radio stations also simulcast their streams online, but according to Edison, that isn’t really helping. Instead, web-born platforms are easily commanding greater share. Edison also tallied time spent with Pandora and Spotify rivals like Beats Music, iTunes Radio, and Rhapsody, though those contributions are mostly marginal. Indeed, Pandora and Spotify have emerged as the 800,000 lb. gorillas in the streaming space, and are now taking over a jungle once ruled by big, broadcast beasts (alongside stuff like CDs and downloads).
In total, Edison found that the average American teenager (between the ages of 13 and 17) listens to just over 4 hours of audio a day. Overall, Edison polled more than 2,000 Americans aged 13 or older for the finding."
Source: Digital Music News, 21st January 2015

"Conversation about film is huge on Twitter. It’s where anticipation, buzz and conversation around new releases builds, and according to new research, it’s increasingly the platform that can drive cinema ticket sales.
The study by marketing analytics software provider @MarketShareCo, commissioned by Twitter, reveals that Twitter contributed to 18% of UK cinema ticket sales over a three-year period using marketing mix modelling, which estimates sales volume driven by each marketing channel.
Twitter contributed to 18% of UK cinema ticket sales over a three-year period
This figure represents a combination of Tweets sent by film fans about movies and Twitter advertising run by film studios and marketers.
Of those box office sales for which Twitter was responsible, the majority came from Tweets by users talking about movies, accounting for 13% of total sales. This points to the importance for film studios and marketers to monitor social buzz to deliver moments that matter to film fans.
This is borne out by other recent Twitter research by @ResearchNowUK. This found that 3 in 5 (61%) said Twitter directly influenced their decision to see a film.Delivering a return on ad spend
Speaking to this point, @MarketShareCo discovered that Twitter Ads not only play a role in influencing cinemagoers, but that they can also be highly effective in doing so. The research shows that for every £1 invested in Twitter Ads, £5.88 was generated in box office ticket sales.
For every £1 invested in Twitter Ads, £5.88 was generated in box office ticket sales.
The study also confirms the effectiveness of combining TV and Twitter ads as part of a film marketing campaign. MarketShare’s research shows that TV ads for new film releases produced 8% more ticket sales if the movie was advertised on both TV and Twitter versus TV alone."
Source: Twitter UK blog, 14th January 2015
"Methodology
MarketShare applied its marketing mix modelling technology to understand how marketing and other factors influence cinema ticket sales. Media spend data was collected for 50+ movie titles released in the UK over the past three years and run through MarketShare’s analytic systems. To increase the accuracy of the results, MarketShare included additional data such as movie genre and critics’ ratings. The models measured the volume of tickets sold due to each factor."

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Source: Research from Edelman, reported by Quartz, 20th January 2015
""Online search engines have overtaken traditional media as the most trusted source for general news and information, according to a global survey of 27,000 people by Edelman, a public relations firm. The data will be presented to delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week."
Note - 'Hybrid Media' seems to mean things like Huffington Post, according to this definition:
"There's an emerging class of media brands that are smart, scrappy and unmatched in their digital DNA. Call them hybrids. They're digitally native and entrepreneurial. They use social and search to their fullest, yet many of them have a traditional ad-sales network that resembles their legacy-laced brethren. Hence the descriptor."

Monday, 19 January 2015

"One of the interesting things about Channel 5's business model is the way it has decreased its reliance on traditional revenue streams - spot, sponsorship and digital - in favour of new ones: AFP, co-production, product placement, barter, live events such as the Gadget Show Live and so on.
Back in 2010, I'm told, about 90% of Channel 5's revenues came from spot; today it is about two thirds.
The current series of CBB is a good example. There's a twist on the Gumtree sponsorship where, pre-show, users could sell stuff to the BB house and, after the show, the contents of the house will be auctioned off. But watch the series carefully and you'll also see some artful product placement: brands like Weetabix, Volvic, and L'Oreal.
This non-spot revenue strategy gives Channel 5 some protection from the brutal world of share deals. As the smallest player it is always going to get bullied on share, but since non-traditional revenues are excluded, it can find a way to ease the problem. And it goes down well with agencies too."

"The Sun has signed up 225,000 paying subscribers to its £2-a-week digital service Sun+, almost double the number reported a year ago.
News UK’s tabloid, which went behind a digital paywall on 1 August last year, reported it had attracted 117,000 paying subscribers in December 2013.
The publisher said that the figure has been stripped of any subscribers on a free trial, with the vast majority paying £7.99 a month.
About 2%, or 5,000 subscribers, have a quarterly or annual package.
The figure also excludes subscribers that get Sun+ through its deal with mobile operator 02 – 4G customers can opt to take it as part of their package."

"The silver screen may soon take a back seat to screens that are dramatically smaller as mobile-entertainment revenue in the U.S. closes the gap on revenue at cinema box offices, according to the data firm SNL Kagan.
In 2014, mobile entertainment — which includes games, video, music and location-based services — pulled in $9.14 billion in revenue. According to SNL Kagan, entertainment via phones and tablets is quickly approaching the approximately $10 billion per year that Americans spend at the box office.
The report, by SNL Kagan’s John Fletcher, takes note of the sharp rise in revenue in mobile-entertainment revenue from just $2.71 billion in 2011.
The leader in the mobile-entertainment push has been gaming — it’s responsible for 57% of all revenue. Though games have always been a major draw on mobile devices, titles such as “Heads Up!” and “Minecraft-Pocket Edition” from Apple Inc.’s App Store helped the app category bring in more than $5 billion in 2014.
“The new era of touch-screen smartphones is a great fit for mobile games,” Fletcher wrote in the report. “The larger screens, touch capabilities, accelerometers and easy-to-navigate app stores made the pre-iPhone mobile-game business of WAP decks and pixelated grey screens feel very distant.”
Mobile video streaming, with a 20% contribution, also had a hand in boosting the revenue of mobile entertainment. Though revenue from subscription services such as Netflix do play a role, the majority of money from video comes from advertisements from mobile apps and sites like Google Inc’s YouTube
Music and location-based services like Foursquare round out the boost to mobile revenue — accounting for 19% and 4%, respectively. According to the report, ring tones, radio and streaming services generated about $1.76 billion in the U.S., and location-based services brought in somewhere around $352,000."

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

"People speak a new universal language—one that is made up of photos, emojis, stickers and videos. This visual language is seen as a succinct, time-efficient and powerful way for people to get their point across.
Helping to drive this development is mobile technology, as it allows people to have a camera with them at all times to capture and share images and express themselves using sight, sound and motion.
“The camera is there right on your phone. … You can just upload what you took at the touch of a button,” Aimee, a 26-year-old from the UK told us.1
We are seeing this shift to a visual language come to life on Facebook. In just one year, the number of video posts per person has increased 75% globally and 94% in the US.2 And every day, people upload more than 350 million photos on average to Facebook.3
On Instagram, people have always communicated visually. More than 300 million people around the world post more than 70 million photos and videos each day on Instagram.4 Meanwhile, the average number of stickers shared per day on Facebook around the world climbed 75% from 2013 to 2014.5"

"We’re increasingly seeing a shift towards visual content on Facebook, especially with video. In just one year, the number of video posts per person has increased 75% globally and 94% in the US. And with people creating, posting and interacting with more videos on Facebook, the composition of News Feed is changing. Globally, the amount of video from people and brands in News Feed has increased 3.6x year-over-year.
Since June 2014, Facebook has averaged more than 1 billion video views every day. On average, more than 50% of people who come back to Facebook every day in the US watch at least one video daily and 76% of people in the US who use Facebook say they tend to discover the videos they watch on Facebook."

"In the six years that Flurry has been reporting on our mobile app usage, and in some cases addiction, we’ve seen stunning growth. This last year was no different. According to Flurry Analytics, in 2014 overall app usage grew by 76%. In this context, Flurry defines app usage as a user opening an app and recording what we call a session. In 2014, Shopping, Utilities & Productivity, and Messaging experienced triple-digit growth and were the key drivers. As our mobile devices become more and more a part of our everyday lives, we are increasingly using them for always-on shopping, working, and communication. Where years past have seen massive growth in games and entertainment, 2014 was the year apps got down to serious business."
Source: Data from Flurry, reported on their blog, 6th January 2015
Note - Click the link for a breakdown by category

"Apple said total billings from paid apps and purchases made within apps for its mobile devices rose 50% last year, from more than $10 billion in 2013. That implies App Store sales of roughly $15 billion, making Apple’s take around $4.5 billion. Apple keeps 30 cents of every dollar that flows through the App Store.
That is still a relatively small slice of Apple’s $183 billion in annual sales. But it is growing much faster: Analysts estimate that Apple’s revenue grew 10% in 2014, according to CapitalIQ.
Moreover, the vast majority of App Store revenue flows directly to the bottom line—making it an increasingly meaningful contributor to Apple’s profit. Apple’s net income for the year ended in September 2014 totaled $39.5 billion."

"According to findings from the British Video Association, the UK video entertainment market is buoyant, with total spending just under £2.2 billion, similar to 2013. Digital continues to boost the video entertainment market with a 30 per cent growth in 2014.
Consumers prefer to own their videos
Buying videos to own and keep is overwhelmingly the preferred choice for consumers representing two thirds of all video spend. Total retail sales were £1.43 billion in 2014 with DVDs and Blu-rays accounting for 89 per cent of spend, the balance being consumers boosting video disc collections with Digital HD downloads.
Resurgence in video rental
Video rentals and subscriptions accounted for one third of consumer spending. Total rentals and subscriptions were estimated to be £755 million in 2014 with pay TV on-demand and internet subscription services accounting for 81 per cent of rentals, the balance being disc rentals.
Half of population buy videos to own and keep
Some 22 million people in Great Britain bought a video to own on DVD, Blu-ray or as a Digital HD download during the year, more than those that visited the cinema (16 million). Meanwhile 7.5 million people rented a video, according to shopping analysts Kantar Worldpanel.
Million Sellers
Four titles sold more than one million copies during 2014. Walt Disney Studio’s Frozen became the biggest title this decade with sales of 4 million copies on DVD and Blu-ray disc whilst The Hobbit – The Desolation Of Smaug and The Lego Movie, both from Warner Bros, and The Hunger Games – Catching Fire, from Lionsgate, each sold more than one million copies during 2014."

"Today, we’re thrilled to share that WhatsApp has more than 700 million monthly active users. Additionally, every day our users now send over 30 billion messages. As humbled and excited as we are by these numbers and our continued growth, we’re even more excited to keep building a great product in 2015."
Source: Facebook post from founder Jan Koum, 6th January 2015
Earlier - 600m reported on 25th August, so it's growing at about 750,000 active users a day, and at approx 3.8% per month
Earlier - 400m reported on 19th December 2013, so it's growing at 800,000 active users a day, and at approx 5.2% per month
Earlier - 300m reported in early August 2013, so it grew from 300-400 at a rate of 700,000 active users a day, and at approx 7.5% per month

Thursday, 8 January 2015

"Israeli startup ClarityRay says it’s not something looming in the misty future — it’s happening now, and it’s only going to get worse.
In a recent study, the company claims to have looked at “over 100 million impressions across several top-tier publishers in the US and Europe” finding that 9.26 percent of all impressions were blocked. The likelihood that someone is using an ad blocker varies significantly by browser — Firefox users are the most likely to use a blocker, followed by Safari (the desktop version) and then Chrome."
Source: Data from ClarityRay, reported by TechCrunch, 18th May 2012
Note - Original PDF from ClarityRay no longer availableMore discussion, examples and data in this Quora post
Note - other users in Quora put the number higher at 15% or so

"The Interview's haphazard release may have worked better than Sony planned. CNN's Brian Stelter is reporting that the film was rented or purchased 4.3 million times, adding up to roughly $31 million from online sales alone. The film also grossed roughly $5 million in theaters after its run was drastically scaled back in the face of terror threats. That adds up to an impressive total for a film that many thought might not be released at all.
Because of the chaos following the Sony hack, The Interview's release was staggered across a number of platforms, premiering at different times on YouTube, Xbox Video and Google Play, and reigning for days as the most popular film on YouTube. The price was a consistent $6 to rent and $15 to own, although it's unclear how the new figures break down between the platforms. It's still unlikely that the film will break even, since it's working off a $44 million budget and at least $35 million in marketing costs. But the figures suggest a surprising appetite for first-run movies delivered through digital channels. As Sony's press release notes, The Interview is already their #1 digital release ever, less than a month after its premiere."

"Sky AdSmart enables advertisers to target different ads to different households watching the same live linear TV program based on over 150 different demographic criteria. After a year of operation in millions of Sky homes in the UK and Ireland, it has brought new TV advertisers, brands and revenues to Sky Media.
[...]
Since the introduction of Sky AdSmart in early 2014, 357 advertisers based in the UK have run around 1000 individual campaigns using the technology. Of the advertisers that have used Sky AdSmart to date, 77 percent had not previously advertised on TV or had not advertised with Sky. In total, 895 million Sky AdSmart impressions have been served in Sky homes."

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

"The CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust, undertaken by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and conducted by global research company Ipsos, reached 23,376 Internet users in 24 countries, and was carried out between October 7, 2014 and November 12, 2014.
The countries included: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.The survey found that:
83% of users believe that affordable access to the Internet should be a basic human right;
two thirds (64%) of users are more concerned today about online privacy than they were compared to one year ago; and,
when given a choice of various governance sources to effectively run the world-wide Internet, a majority (57%) chose the multi-stakeholder option—a “combined body of technology companies, engineers, non-governmental organizations and institutions that represent the interests and will of ordinary citizens, and governments.”
The global Survey was developed to help support the work of the Global Commission on Internet Governance (GCIG). The GCIC, an initiative by CIGI and Chatham House, was established to articulate and advance a strategic vision for the future of Internet governance."

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

"Kickstarter had its biggest year yet in 2014. The crowdfunding website saw more than 3.3 million people pledge $529 million to various projects over the course of the year, up from 3 million people pledging $480 million in 2013.
Like past years, 2014 brought a slew of highly memorable crowdfunding projects. The Coolest Cooler, a high-tech icebox that plays music in addition to storing drinks, earned $13.2 million in pledges last summer and became the most-funded project in Kickstarter history. In July, Levar Burton’s campaign to resurrect Reading Rainbow generated more than $5 million in pledges and became the first Kickstarter project to gain 100,000 backers.
Other highly successful projects included Neil Young’s high-fidelity digital music player Pono ($6.2 million in pledges), the Micro 3D printer ($3.4 million) and a pair of wireless earbuds that can store music and track your vital signs ($3.4 million).
Since Kickstarter only doles out money if projects reach their initial funding goals, that full $529 million wasn’t paid out to project starters. However, more than 22,000 projects were successfully funded in 2014, the most ever in a single year. Music was the most popular category for campaigns, with about 4,000 projects being successfully funded. However, technology attracted the most pledged dollars, as backers offered up $125 million to fund various gadgets."

Monday, 5 January 2015

"Amazon today announced that sellers on Amazon sold a record-setting more than 2 billion items worldwide in 2014. The number of sellers on Amazon adopting the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service to help scale their businesses and delight customers with Amazon’s award-winning fulfillment and customer service also grew more than 65 percent year-over-year worldwide. There are currently more than 2 million sellers on Amazon worldwide that account for over 40 percent of the total units sold on Amazon.
“It’s been a record-setting year for selling on Amazon. We’re seeing strong growth from sellers listing their items across our global marketplaces. In fact, there are now more than a billion offers for customers to browse from sellers who are listing items for sale outside their home country,” said Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace. “The growth of mobile and the introduction of the Amazon Seller App have also been a big win for sellers this year. Sellers are constantly telling us they value the flexibility of managing their businesses on-the-go from their tablets and mobile devices.”"

"Significantly fewer Britons went out to shop on Boxing Day this year, initial data showed, suggesting pre-Christmas online discounts led many to spurn what is traditionally a bumper day for retailers.
Retail data company Springboard said footfall for the first three hours of Dec. 26 was down 10.5 percent year-on-year.
Many large retailers launch sales offering big discounts on Boxing Day to try to entice domestic and foreign consumers to engage in a second wave of buying after Christmas.
But Springboard said many shoppers would be making their purchases online.
"The scale of the drop this year falls outside of an ongoing retail trend," it said. "The double impact of early discounting and online shopping was clearly seen to negatively affect pre-Christmas footfall trends and it seems their influence cannot be ignored in relation to Boxing Day."
Diane Wehrle, the firm's retail insights director, said Christmas Eve footfall had also fallen 5.2 percent year-on-year."

"As previously reported by Localytics, 52% of people opt-in to push messages. This enables marketers to guide their users back into the app after periods of inactivity. But is push messaging really an effective tool to address the challenge of engaging users and keeping them coming back to your app?
The answer is yes. Localytics examined the engagement and retention of users who opted in to receiving push notifications compared to those who disabled push messages. Users who enable push are undoubtedly more engaged, but by how much?
88% higher engagement on average for push-enabled users
E-commerce apps exhibit the highest push engagement lift at 278%
Users who enable push have a nearly 3x higher retention rate compared to those who disable push
App abandonment rate for one time app use decreases from 21% to 11% for push-enabled users
Push-enabled users show drastically higher engagement and retention"
Source: Localytics, 19th August 2014

"To understand how app engagement has changed over the past four years, Localytics examined the App Retention Rate – the average number of times an app was used. Localytics found:
20% of Apps are only opened once, improving from 26% four years ago
During the same period, the percentage of apps used 11 or more times increased 13% and now comprises nearly 40% of all apps.
Android has greater percentage of users opening an app 11 or more times
Sports and Games apps have the highest app abandonment rate of all categories, whereas Weather and Social Networking apps have the lowest"
Source: Localytics, 11th June 2014

"Big companies weren't shy about going public in 2014.
"With 273 IPOs, 2014 was the most active period of issuance since 406 companies went public in 2000," noted the folks at Renaissance Capital IPO Intelligence. "It was the second year of uninterrupted IPO activity, up 23% over 2013, due to a doubling of biotech issuance."
According to Renaissance Capital, the health care sector led the way with a whopping 100 IPOs. Think biotech stocks.
"Despite the higher volume, health care proceeds rose just 2% over last year due to several large deals in 2013."
Tech issuance was up 22% year-over-year with 55 IPOs
"Proceeds of $85 billion, inflated by Alibaba’s $22 billion offering, were up 55% over 2013," Renaissance noted.
"While various global events, such as Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, caused nervousness in global markets, they largely failed to disrupt the US IPO applecart."
2014 is going down as the biggest year for IPOs since the dotcom bubble."
Source: Business Insider, 18th December 2014

"Shipping
Amazon shipped to 185 countries this holiday.
Sunday Delivery expanded across the country, delivering holiday packages to thousands of cities in the US.
This holiday, Amazon customers ordered more than 10 times as many items with Same-Day Delivery, over 2013.
The last Prime One-Day Shipping order on Amazon.com delivered in time for Christmas was placed on December 23, 2014 at 2:55 p.m. EST and shipped to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The order included Nature’s Miracle No More Marking, 24-ounce spray and a men’s Champion Evo Fleece Full Zip Hoodie.
The last Prime Now order that was delivered in time for Christmas included 3 different 12-packs of Bai5, 5 calorie, 100% Natural, Antioxidant Infused Beverage, 18-ounce bottles. Flavor varieties included Costa Rica Clementine, Limu Lemon and Molokai Coconut. The order was placed on December 24 at 10:24pm and was delivered at 11:06pm.
[...]Customer Purchases
Nearly 60 percent of Amazon.com customers shopped using a mobile device this holiday. Mobile shopping accelerated as customers got later into the shopping season.
Cyber Monday continues to be Amazon.com’s peak mobile shopping day. Black Friday had the most rapid growth in mobile shopping.
Total holiday sales from the Amazon app for smartphones doubled in 2014 in the US.
On Cyber Monday, Amazon customers worldwide ordered more than 18 toys per second from a mobile device.
This holiday, 16 times more Amazon customers shopped on smile.amazon.com than over the 2013 holiday season.
Since launching, AmazonSmile has generated millions of dollars in donations for customers’ favorite charitable organizations.
This holiday season, AmazonSmile customers supported seven times more charitable organizations than last year.
Amazon customers purchased enough Elsa dolls to reach the top of Cinderella's castle 855 times.
If all of the Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus books purchased by Amazon customers during the holidays were piled up, they would be more than twice as tall as Washington State's Mount Olympus and Mount Olympus in Greece—stacked on top of each other.
Amazon customers purchased enough Sophie the Giraffe teethers to equal the height of 788 real giraffes.
If every Amazon customer who purchased a copy of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire or Pokémon Omega Ruby this holiday season caught every species of monster in the game, they would have collected more Pokémon than the entire population of the US.
Amazon customers purchased enough Lifestraws to sustain more than 115,000 thirsty campers for a year.
If every shoe from each pair of pumps Amazon Fashion customers purchased this holiday season were stacked on top of each other they would equal 52 times the Empire State Building.
The number of pairs of cowboy boots Amazon Fashion customers purchased this holiday season is enough to provide a new pair of boots to the population of Cheyenne, Wyoming, home of one of the largest rodeos.
Amazon customers purchased enough wiper blades for every driver in Mobile, Alabama, the rainiest city in the US.
The total length of Duck Brand Disney Frozen duct tape purchased by Amazon customers this holiday season could stretch to the top of Disneyland's Matterhorn more than 729 times.
Assuming the average customer moisturizes twice per day, Amazon sold enough O'Keefe's Hand and Foot Cream to provide a lifetime supply to the entire Seattle Seahawks football team roster.
Amazon customers purchased enough laser pointer pet toys to give more than seven to every Lasik eye surgeon in the US.
Amazon customers purchased enough commercial butane torches to caramelize 31,000 crème brulees.
Amazon customers purchased enough Rubbermaid storage containers to pack a lunch for the entire population of Montana."
Source: Press release from Amazon (US), 26th December 2014

"According to figures released by Sony Pictures, in its first four days of release, controversial comedy The Interview was “rented or purchased online more than 2 million times” between December 24th, when it was released, and December 27th. “Total consumer spending through Saturday for The Interview online is over $15 million,” Sony said in a statement.
The totals do not include December 28th, when co-stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and co-director Evan Goldberg held a live-tweet session to further promote online streams of the movie. Online revenue far exceeds that from theatrical release, despite sold-out showings in a limited number of theatres across the country. The Interview is expected to make about $2.8 million at the 331 independently-owned theatres that have been showing it since Christmas Day."
Source: Advanced Television, 29th December 2014
Note - it was also downloaded from torrent sites nearly 1m times on Christmas Day alone
"Using data sourced from piracy tracking specialist Excipio, variety.com reports that The Interview was downloaded by 904,237 clients worldwide on December 25th following its uploading to a range of file-sharing services."

"It’s clear that Santa is no longer into cookies - he prefers Apples. It was a banner Christmas for the Apple, the company that started the mobile revolution with the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. Seven years later, Apple accounted for 51% of the new device activations worldwide Flurry recognized in the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (December 19th - 25th). Samsung held the #2 position with 18% of new device activations, and Microsoft (Nokia) rounded out the top three with 5.8% share for mostly Lumia devices. After the top three manufacturers, the device market becomes increasingly fragmented with only Sony and LG commanding more than one percent share of new activations on Christmas Day. Up-and-comers Xiaomi, Huawei, and HTC all had less than one percent share on Christmas Day. One reason is surely their popularity in Asian markets where December 25th is not the biggest gift-giving day of the year.
To put this in perspective, for every Samsung devices that was activated, Apple activated 2.9 devices. For every Microsoft Lumia device activated, Apple activated 8.8 devices. While, the holidays in general and Christmas in particular are not the sole indicator of the smartphone market share and trends, it is safe to say that Apple’s newly released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have had a blockbuster holiday season, despite a lackluster holiday season for the consumer electronics industry."

"The traditional family Christmas took a back seat for many yesterday as millions of Britons spent a large chunk of the day online.
Bargain-hunters spent around £441,000 a minute to set a 'Clickmas' record, racking up an estimated £636million sales.
Up to 8 per cent of all adults hunted for bargains at some stage during the day. Many then cut short the family festivities to join the queues for the start of today's High Street sales.
Thousands queued through the night for Boxing Day bargains, with some shopping centres opening at 6am.
Bargain hunters spent an estimated £636million today, with around £441,000 being spent every minute
But that will not ease the rush for internet bargains. It is expected to be even busier online today, with spending predicted to hit £748million – or £515,000 per minute – 29 per cent up on Boxing Day last year.
Retail spending figures suggest millions have delayed buying their presents for friends and family they did not see over Christmas in the hope of finding big bargains.
Numbers visiting the High Street were down this month compared with last year. Even though retailers have slash prices by up to 90 per cent to shift stock, industry analysts fear Boxing Day could see the number of shoppers down by a third.
Retail expert Julie Palmer, of business recovery experts Begbies Traynor, said: 'After a period of subdued High Street spending in the run up to Christmas, retailers who have underperformed and missed their peak trading targets will be discounting heavily today in a bid to draw in the crowds and make up for lost ground.
'The High Street retailers should still expect queues this morning, albeit at lower levels than what we would usually expect, as after two days holed up with the family, there's nothing quite like a bit of retail therapy.
'Shoppers can expect to find the largest discounts at the fashion retailers as, after an unseasonably warm end to the year, most clothing outlets have more surplus winter fashion items in stock than you would normally expect.'
Experian Footfall says many who might have visited town centres today have already snapped up bargains from the comfort of their sofas as online sales began on Christmas Eve.
Britain spends more online per head than any other nation, including the US, with retail spending online for 2014 forecast to top £100billion for the first time. More than £1 in every £5 of retail spending – other than food – is now online.
Market research suggests that in some households online shopping has already become part of the festive tradition while families watch television and unwrap presents.
Gift cards that allow shoppers to choose their own presents online have driven the popularity of Christmas Day internet shopping. Amazon said business on its site has grown fivefold in the past five years and eBay reported its busiest ever Christmas Day.
The rise of e-readers and tablets has meant millions begin downloading books, music, films and TV box sets immediately after unwrapping Kindles and iPads. On Amazon, several deals sold out within hours, including a Rotary men's watch reduced from £450 to £74.99.
On eBay, a £6.99 'selfie stick' – an extending pole allowing smartphone users to take better pictures of themselves – had sold out by 2pm. The site also proved a popular way to sell unwanted gifts, with a handheld window-cleaning Hoover listed with the comment: 'Just did not want this present.'
eBay predicts that 2.7million users will sell unwanted gifts worth £819million on the site.
Millions will take to the High Street tomorrow to make the most of the traditional Boxing Day sales
Analysts IMRG and Experian predicted that 142 million people would visit online shopping websites throughout Christmas Day.
Marks and Spencer launched its sale with 50 per cent off a range of homeware, furniture and clothing.
Among the most discounted items is a £999 sofa reduced to £499 and kitchen sets. Amazon started offering discounts from 4pm, with traffic expected to peak shortly after 9pm tonight.
On eBay, sellers have slashed prices by up to 50 per cent, with savings also available on coveted gadgets such as a Playstation 4, reduced by £50 to £359.99.
The online auctioneer is also selling a range of Apple iPads for £329.99 - a discount of 17 per cent - and Phillips coffee machines for £50.
Half of consumers polled by Barclaycard in the run-up to Christmas said they would do some online shopping today.
Giles Longhurst, consumer insight general manager at Experian Marketing Services, said: 'The ease of shopping online via connected devices raises the prospect of a very large amount of shopping activity on Christmas Day itself.
'We expect a 25 per cent growth on last year in the number of site visits to 142 million as shoppers slip away from families to do some additional bargain hunting on the big day, with a corresponding spend of £636million.
Dominic Trigg, managing director for Europe of digital advertising technology company Rocket Fuel, said: 'Shopping online on Christmas Day is now a normal part of UK consumers' holiday experiences every year.
'This year spending on the day will increase 36% compared to 2013, taking it to an estimated £636 million.
'It is clear that UK consumers now see shopping from the comfort of their own home, following Christmas Day dinner, as much of a tradition as a turkey and ham dinner.'
John Lewis said last week's sales of £160.6 million, up 6.5 per cent on the previous week, confirmed its expectation that customers were choosing to leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute.
Source: Daily Mail, 25th December 2014

"This weekend, I saw a tweet flash by with an amazing claim: "If you had bought the computing power found inside an iPhone 5S in 1991, it would have cost you $3.56 million."
This statistic was originally put out by Bret Swanson, writing in Tech Policy Daily in February. He used a back-of-the-envelope calculation based on 1991 prices for memory, computing power, and bandwidth.
It's not precise, but it's safe to say that a lot of us are carrying, in our pocket, a computer that would have been unspeakably costly in 1991."